Depth ordering of planes and displaying interconnects having an appearance indicating data characteristics

Abstract

A method for determining a depth ordering between two planes in a 3D workspace of an application is provided. The method includes projecting vectors from a reference position through points of interest on the planes, determining corresponding points on the other plane, determining a number of points of interest on a first plane having a depth lower than its corresponding point and a number of points of interest on a second plane having a depth lower than its corresponding point, and setting the depth ordering based on these numbers. A method for displaying interconnects between nodes of a tree displayed in an application is provided. A node represents a multimedia item or a function and an interconnect represents data passed between two nodes. The method includes displaying an interconnect in the tree having an appearance indicating at least one characteristic of the data being passed between two nodes.

1. A computer readable medium storing a computer program, the computer program for execution by at least one processor, the computer program comprising sets of instructions for:
 projecting a plurality of vectors from a reference position through first and second planes in a graphical display representation of a three dimensional environment; 
 determining a first number for a number of instances that said vectors intersect the first plane prior to intersecting the second plane; 
 determining a second number for a number of instances that said vectors intersect the second plane prior to intersecting the first plane; and 
 setting a depth ordering for the first and second planes based on the first and second numbers. 
 
   
   
     2. The computer readable medium of  claim 1 , wherein the computer program further comprises sets of instructions for:
 determining, when the first and second numbers are equal, a first distance between points of intersection from a first vector that first intersects a point of the first plane and a corresponding point of intersection of the second plane; and 
 determining a second distance between points of intersection from a second vector that first intersects a point of the second plane and a corresponding point of intersection of the first plane. 
 
   
   
     3. The computer readable medium of  claim 2 , wherein the computer program further comprises sets of instructions for:
 determining whether the first distance is less than the second distance; and 
 setting, upon determining that the first distance is less than the second distance, the depth ordering so that the first plane is in front of the second plane. 
 
   
   
     4. The computer readable medium of  claim 1 , wherein the set of instructions for setting the depth ordering comprises a set of instructions for determining which plane is closer to the reference position. 
   
   
     5. The computer readable medium of  claim 1 , wherein the first number specifies a number of points of interest on the first plane, each point of interest having a depth coordinate lower than a depth coordinate of a corresponding point on the second plane. 
   
   
     6. The computer readable medium of  claim 1 , wherein the computer program further comprises a set of instructions for displaying the first and second planes within the graphical display representation based on the set depth ordering. 
   
   
     7. A computer readable medium storing a computer program, the computer program for execution by at least one processor, the computer program comprising sets of instructions for:
 passing a plurality of vectors from a reference position through a set of planes located within a graphical display of a three dimensional environment; 
 determining, for each vector, a depth value for each point of intersection with a plane in the set of planes; and 
 ordering the set of planes based on said determined depth values so that a first plane is in front of a second plane when the first plane has more intersection points with depth values that are lower than the depth values of the intersection points of the second plane. 
 
   
   
     8. The computer readable medium of  claim 7 , wherein the graphical display of the three dimensional environment is for a compositing application. 
   
   
     9. The computer readable medium of  claim 7 , wherein the graphical display is a first graphical display, wherein the computer program further comprises sets of instructions for ordering the set of planes within second, third, and fourth graphical displays of the three dimensional environment. 
   
   
     10. The computer readable medium of  claim 9 , wherein the computer program further comprises a set of instructions for ordering the set of planes within the second, third, and fourth graphical displays based on different reference positions. 
   
   
     11. The computer readable medium of  claim 7 , wherein the computer program further comprises a set of instructions for displaying the first and second planes within the graphical display based on the ordering of the set of planes.